Thursday, October 13, 2011

Saving Valentina



A very moving and positive video.

Eight Must-Have Charts Summarize the Evidence for a “Human Fingerprint” on Recent Climate Change

Eight Must-Have Charts Summarize the Evidence for a “Human Fingerprint” on Recent Climate Change: pClick to Enlarge The Yale Project on Climate Change Communications asked Americans “If you had the opportunity to talk to an expert on global warming, which of the following questions would you like to ask?” The top question, as reported in their “Global Warming’s Six Americas in May 2011” report, is “How do you know that [...]/p

Solar and Wind Could Power the West Right Now, All of America in 2026

Solar and Wind Could Power the West Right Now, All of America in 2026: pby John Farrell, in two posts that came from Energy Self-Reliant States The Germans have installed over 10,000 megawatts of solar panels in the past two years, enough to power 2 million American homes (or most of Los Angeles, CA).  If Americans installed local solar at the same torrid pace, we could already power most [...]/p

Victory at Sea - Governor Signs Protection of Sharks into Law | Francesca Koe's Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC

Victory at Sea - Governor Signs Protection of Sharks into Law | Francesca Koe's Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC

Koch Brothers Exposed: Koch Industries And Cancer

A Clip From The Cove

She's Alive

Acid Test

ABC News: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Charles Moore On The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Where are US Global Warming Emissions Headed?

Where are US Global Warming Emissions Headed?

Record Heat Causes Peanut Butter Prices to Skyrocket: “I Don’t Remember A Year” We Had “So Little Moisture”

Record Heat Causes Peanut Butter Prices to Skyrocket: “I Don’t Remember A Year” We Had “So Little Moisture”: p“The drought conditions should sure that have plagued farmers this growing season have taken a toll on the area’s peanut crop. Withered blooms, burned pods and few undeveloped peanuts define this year’s peanut crop for many area farmers.” (Photo/Jaine Treadwell) First, we heard that climate change could decimate the chocolate industry. Now it’s peanut butter. [...]/p

Why the Whole Idea of the U.S Achieving 'Energy Independence' Is a Sham That Enriches Big Oil and Coal | Environment | AlterNet

Why the Whole Idea of the U.S Achieving 'Energy Independence' Is a Sham That Enriches Big Oil and Coal | Environment | AlterNet

Friday, October 7, 2011

Acid Test

Robert Bryce Raises Climate Denial To New Levels Of Stupid

Robert Bryce Raises Climate Denial To New Levels Of Stupid: p“The science is not settled, not by a long shot,” writes disinformer Robert Bryce in the Wall Street Journal. “Last month, scientists at CERN, the prestigious high-energy physics lab in Switzerland, reported that neutrinos might—repeat, might—travel faster than the speed of light. If serious scientists can question Einstein’s theory of relativity, then there must be [...]/p

Who Is Robert Bryce?

Who Is Robert Bryce?

People-Powered Testimony Against Keystone XL Tar Sands | Common Dreams

People-Powered Testimony Against Keystone XL Tar Sands | Common Dreams

Lawsuit: TransCanada is Illegally Clearing the Way for Keystone XL Pipeline | Truthout

Lawsuit: TransCanada is Illegally Clearing the Way for Keystone XL Pipeline | Truthout

Our Oceans Are in Dire Shape, But Without Them All Life on Land -- Human, Plant and Animal -- Is Totally Screwed | Water | AlterNet

Our Oceans Are in Dire Shape, But Without Them All Life on Land -- Human, Plant and Animal -- Is Totally Screwed | Water | AlterNet

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Media Bias: Solyndra v. Keystone XL

Media Bias: Solyndra v. Keystone XL: pIn recent weeks, email communications between Obama administration officials and corporate executives at energy companies have come to light. Television coverage of the Solyndra photovoltaic company’s bankruptcy has been wall-to-wall, with over 190 mentions and 10 hours of coverage (led by Fox News) between Aug. 31 and Sept. 23. Meanwhile, emails from the permitting process [...]/p

Top 10 Reasons Why Renewable Energy Wins — On Solyndra, Silver Bullets and Solar Buckshot

Top 10 Reasons Why Renewable Energy Wins — On Solyndra, Silver Bullets and Solar Buckshot: pThis GreenTechMedia repost is a joint effort of the solar industry supergroup:  Doug Payne, Donnie Fowler, Danny Kennedy, Ned Harvey, Tom McCalmont, Jigar Shah By now the financial, political, and emotional fallout from the recent Solyndra bankruptcy filing is running at full tilt. Print, online, and social media channels are filled with the appropriate questions about what [...]/p

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Friday, September 30, 2011

Canadian Arctic Loses Nearly Entire Ice Shelf | Common Dreams

Canadian Arctic Loses Nearly Entire Ice Shelf | Common Dreams

NASA’s Hansen: “If We Stay on With Business as Usual, the Southern U.S. Will Become Almost Uninhabitable.”

NASA’s Hansen: “If We Stay on With Business as Usual, the Southern U.S. Will Become Almost Uninhabitable.”: pClimatologist Slams Media for “Silent Summer”:  Poor Coverage of Link Between Extreme Weather and Human-Caused Climate Change The nation’s top climatologist, NASA’s James Hansen, has a new paper out — and he has been speaking out.  At 350.org’s Moving Planet event in New York on Saturday, he said: “Climate change — human-made global warming — [...]/p

Wake Up Democrats: Independents Support Federal Investment in “Green Jobs” 2-to-1 Despite Solyndra Media Storm

Wake Up Democrats: Independents Support Federal Investment in “Green Jobs” 2-to-1 Despite Solyndra Media Storm: pIn dozens of focus groups we have conducted this month across the country on a wide variety of subjects, when voters are asked where they would like new jobs in their state to come from, the first words out of their mouths are almost always the same – clean energy and related technology.  Voters believe [...]/p

Too Hot for Chocolate? Climate Change Could Decimate the $9 Billion Cocoa Industry, Study Finds

Too Hot for Chocolate? Climate Change Could Decimate the $9 Billion Cocoa Industry, Study Finds: pGlobal warming threatens heat-sensitive cocoa trees, a Gates Foundation study finds Half of the world’s cocoa supply comes from the West African countries of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. But in the coming decades, climate change could severely limit production in the region — disrupting local farmers and squeezing global chocolate supply. A new report out [...]/p

An Illustrated Guide to the Science of Global Warming Impacts: How We Know Inaction Is the Gravest Threat Humanity Faces

An Illustrated Guide to the Science of Global Warming Impacts: How We Know Inaction Is the Gravest Threat Humanity Faces: pHumanity’s Choice (via M.I.T.):  Inaction (“No Policy”) eliminates most of the uncertainty about whether or not future warming will be catastrophic.  Aggressive emissions reductions dramatically improves humanity’s chances. In this post, I will summarize what the recent scientific literature says are the key impacts we face in the coming decades if we stay anywhere near [...]/p

Monday, September 26, 2011

We’re Poisoning the Oceans and It Threatens Our Food

We’re Poisoning the Oceans and It Threatens Our Food: pby Sheril Kirshenbaum, in a Science Progress cross-post Marine chemist Richard Feely, a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, has been collecting water samples in the North Pacific for over 30 years. He’s observed a decrease in pH at the upper part of the water column, notably the region where carbon dioxide [...]/p

Friday, September 23, 2011

Hottest Decade on Record Would Have Been Even Hotter But for Deep Oceans — Accelerated Warming May Be On Its Way

Hottest Decade on Record Would Have Been Even Hotter But for Deep Oceans — Accelerated Warming May Be On Its Way: pA composite of all the major global temperature records via Skeptical Science. The last decade was easily the hottest on record.  We’ve known that sulfate aerosols (from volcanoes and/or Chinese coal) and the “the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century” masked the rate of warming somewhat. Even so, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies [...]/pjavascript:void(0)

Thursday, September 22, 2011

What Happened To The Republican Consensus On Climate Change?

What Happened To The Republican Consensus On Climate Change?

The Deniers’ Fantasy World: EIA Projects 40% Rise in CO2 Emissions by 2035

The Deniers’ Fantasy World: EIA Projects 40% Rise in CO2 Emissions by 2035: pThe U.S. Energy Information Administration issued its International Energy Outlook this week.  For anyone concerned about the uncontrolled rise in carbon emissions — the primary heat-trapping gas fueling dangerous global warming — it paints a very grim future. Under a business-as-usual climate science deniers’ fantasy scenario, the EIA projects that global carbon dioxide emissions will [...]/p

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Contrary To GOP Claims, Research Shows Environmental Regulation Actually Spurs Economic Growth

Contrary To GOP Claims, Research Shows Environmental Regulation Actually Spurs Economic Growth: pBesides President Obama, Republicans vying for the presidential nomination have made government regulations their favorite punching bag on the campaign trail. Without exception, the candidates have scapegoated “burdensome regulation” for stifling job creation and economic growth — ignoring that a lack of regulation enabled the financial crisis that led to the Great Recession. Environmental regulations [...]/p

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Global Warming May Cause Far Higher Extinction of Biodiversity Than Previously Thought

Global Warming May Cause Far Higher Extinction of Biodiversity Than Previously Thought: pIf global warming continues as expected, it is estimated that almost a third of all flora and fauna species worldwide could become extinct. Scientists … discovered that the proportion of actual biodiversity loss should quite clearly be revised upwards: by 2080, more than 80% of genetic diversity within species may disappear in certain groups of [...]/p

Super Weeds Pose Growing Threat to U.S. Crops | Common Dreams

Super Weeds Pose Growing Threat to U.S. Crops | Common Dreams

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Official Investigation: BP’s Risky Efforts To Cut Costs Caused The Deepwater Horizon Disaster

Official Investigation: BP’s Risky Efforts To Cut Costs Caused The Deepwater Horizon Disaster: pThe federal investigation into the BP Gulf of Mexico oil disaster finds that cost-cutting measures by the oil giant led to the blowout of the Deepwater Horizon rig. The final report of the joint Coast Guard-Bureau of Ocean Energy investigation finds that BP and its contracting companies — Halliburton and Transocean — were responsible for [...]/p

Dire Warning Over Arctic Sea Ice Melt | Common Dreams

Dire Warning Over Arctic Sea Ice Melt | Common Dreams

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Arctic Death Spiral Continues: Sea Ice Volume Hits Record Low for Second Straight Year

Arctic Death Spiral Continues: Sea Ice Volume Hits Record Low for Second Straight Year: pThe Polar Science Center at the University of Washington has updated its calculations of Arctic sea ice volume.  As usual, Neven has the best graphs of the PSC’s data at his Arctic Sea Ice Blog, a must-read for cryosphere-junkies. The PSC recently improved their PIOMAS model, which combines the best observational data with their own analysis. [...]/p

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Second giant ice island set to break off Greenland glacier

Second giant ice island set to break off Greenland glacier

Florida Gov. Rick Scott Supports Oil Drilling In The Everglades

Florida Gov. Rick Scott Supports Oil Drilling In The Everglades: pPresidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has company in her call for oil drilling in the Florida Everdglades: the state’s governor supports it as well. Gov. Rick Scott (R) was speaking to members of the Economic Club of Florida when an audience member asked him if he agreed with Bachmann’s call for drilling in the [...]/p

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Scientist: “The Murdoch Media Empire Has Cost Humanity Perhaps One or Two Decades in Battle Against Climate Change.”

Scientist: “The Murdoch Media Empire Has Cost Humanity Perhaps One or Two Decades in Battle Against Climate Change.”: pThe Australian is the country’s biggest-selling national newspaper.  It is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which “also owns the sole dailies in Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin and the most popular metropolitan dailies in Sydney and Melbourne.” Michael Ashley investigates the national paper’s “seriously warped” op-ed policy in this extended excerpt. [R]eality becomes so [...]/p